Summer travel is back but interesting trends are beginning to appear. Here are the Top 3 Travel Trends we have watched in Hamilton County since April:
- Chicago still rules as our biggest single market outside of Indiana at 11% of our visitation -- but what is most interesting is visitation from the Windy City region has grown 2 percentage points since April 1 when compared to the same time last year, same period. HCT will soon launch a survey of that market to understand what that means in the way of economic impact, but we’re pleased with what we see, especially since we invest a huge amount of our marketing dollars into this area of the country.
- Overall visitation is up; overnight visitation as a percent of visitors is down; but both hotel and home rental lodging sales are up. How can all those things be happening at once, you ask? More people are enjoying Hamilton County as a day trip, which increases the overall size of the visitor pool. A majority of our traditional spring/summer weekend sports business also now stays in nearby counties for a number of reasons (room availability and lower room rates are just two). While sports is the single biggest reason people visit during this period (it is about one-quarter of overall visitation for the season), more people are also coming for leisure travel as well. They participate in outdoor recreation and retail activities and are willing to pay higher rates, meaning our more price-sensitive sports visitors tend to stay outside the county while leisure and business travelers stay in our community.
- Business and small group business is up. It’s exciting to think that Hamilton County’s very important business travel economy is finally back after being depressed for years due to the pandemic. While hotel occupancy remains highest on weekends due to sports, leisure and concert-driven travel, weekdays have seen an increase in both the business transient and the small meetings market. The HCT sales team can attest to that with the number of leads and bookings they are generating. Everyone predicted the demise of business travel with the adoption of virtual meetings, but indeed people still want to gather and see each other in person.
Here's to a successful summer travel season!
Data Sources: Zartico/Near, STR
